Introducing the Winners of Hi Marley’s 2026 Core Values Awards
Hi Marley’s third annual Core Values Awards recognize those who shape Hi Marley’s positive culture and help us stay connected to our values as we scale. Each year, Hi Marley colleagues submit nominations for the people who exemplify our three core values every day:
- Be Humble: We lead with appreciation and promote a culture of humility, compassion and openness to learn from anyone, anywhere.
- Max Courage: We encourage our team, our customers, and their customers to dream big, try new ideas and maximize impact by taking calculated risks.
- Ubuntu: True success is achieved by aligning our individual aims behind a shared purpose bigger than any single individual or company.
“As Hi Marley continues to grow in an industry where trust matters deeply, our core values are more important than ever,” said Stefanie Bishop, Chief People Officer at Hi Marley. “They’re the backbone of our culture, the standards that guide how we work, how we treat one another, and how we show up when no one is watching. The individuals recognized by our Core Values Awards aren’t just high performers; they model humility, take courageous risks in service of our customers and teammates, and put the collective ahead of themselves.”
Be Humble: Kevin Roller, Senior Solutions Engineer
Kevin Roller joined Hi Marley in March 2023 as an Integration Analyst. He moved into the Senior Solutions Engineer role on the Growth team last year, where he leverages his deep technical expertise and product knowledge to educate carriers on the value of our solutions and the strength of our unique partnership approach. He also co-leads Hi Marley’s Volunteering Committee, organizing events for Hi Marley to give back locally and globally.
“I was not surprised to see the quantity of nominations for Kevin for the Be Humble award,” said Dan Keenan, Chief Growth Officer. “The nominations were thoughtful, kind and generous, and that’s because Kevin is also very thoughtful, very kind and very generous. He is the ultimate team player.”
Dan highlighted a specific submission that spoke to Kevin’s character. “Kevin does the work of multiple analysts and handles it with a smile,” the submission stated. “There is never any judgment when you ask him to explain concepts, and he’s always going above and beyond to make Hi Marley a trusted partner. I appreciate all Kevin does and the peace he brings while doing it.”
Max Courage: Kayla Patel, Principal Software Engineer
Kayla Patel joined Hi Marley in October 2020. As a Principal Software Engineer, Kayla embodies Max Courage: to dream big, try new ideas and maximize impact by taking calculated risks. Kayla is always willing to tackle the most complicated, difficult projects and has done so for her team many, many times.
In the past year, she stepped into a leadership role on the DevOps engineering team, which was outside her comfort zone, but she was interested and willing to learn, taking on the responsibility without hesitation.
“I’m constantly inspired by Kayla; she is the kind of leader that every team hopes to have,” said Jonathan Tushman, Chief Product Officer at Hi Marley. “She leads with ownership and maturity. Her courage is impressive in how she will fully admit when she doesn’t know the answer, then throw herself into finding the solution, learning, and asking for input. Her confidence isn’t loud or performative; it is grounded, earned and deeply trustworthy. She’s brave enough not to let her ego trump curiosity and collaboration, and these traits make her an amazing teammate.”
Ubuntu: Bruce Kaufman, Principal Software Engineer
At Hi Marley, we believe true success is achieved by aligning our personal aims behind a shared purpose bigger than any individual or company. And few people embody the value Ubuntu more than Bruce Kaufman, one of Hi Marley’s longest tenured employees.
Bruce Kaufman joined Hi Marley in December 2018 as one of our earliest engineering hires. He continually pushes his team and the company forward through his persistence. He’s consistently willing and happy to dive into challenges, diagnose problems, find solutions, fix bugs, assist on features and more.
“Bruce always finds time to help others out, no matter what he’s working on,” said Jonathan. “He often challenges us and pushes us to do our best. This year, he led the collaboration with our Labs team to explore and bring AI innovations to Hi Marley’s product. Even with so many technical unknowns, Bruce gave us the clarity we needed to move forward.”
Founders’ Award: Dan Ko, Director, Customer Success
The Founders’ Award recognizes an employee who embodies all three core values. This year’s recipient, Dan Ko, recently celebrated his six-year anniversary at Hi Marley. He joined in January 2020, bringing an energy to the Customer Success role that helped build strong, lasting and trusted relationships.
“It’s not easy to embody all three values at once—Max Courage, Be Humble, and Ubuntu—but Dan Ko absolutely does, and more,” said Mike Greene, Co-Founder and CEO at Hi Marley. “While the Founders’ Award bears Dan’s name, it represents something bigger; it’s the culture he’s shaping, it’s the people he’s developing, it’s the teams that reflect these values every day. He’s a true believer in people, and that goes such a long way.”
Mike added, “Outside of work, I’ve experienced a bit of Dan Ko with his family, and you can tell the love he gives and what a great father he is outside of Hi Marley. Dan lives Max Courage, Be Humble and Ubuntu. It’s in how he leads, how he cares for people and how he serves customers and others.”
Congratulations to this year’s Core Values Awards recipients! The winners each received a prestigious award, a cash prize, and an equity grant.
